Banstead Village

Entrance to Banstead Village, 1906

A postcard featuring Barker Bros and postmarked 16th July 1906. This is the view from Sutton Lane looking towards the High Street on the right and Park Road straight ahead. Barker Bros may have been a butcher and slaughterhouse business, but I can’t be sure. The land where the signpost is became the site of the War Memorial in 1921.

The postcard is addressed to Miss Maud Ilsley, 12 Westow Hill, Upper Norwood SE, and the message reads: “July 16 1906. Monday morning 8am. Dear Maud, This is the Village where dad used to live when he was a little Boy, I hope you are alright [sic] not having the toothache etc. Love to Mother. With love, Dad”.

Thanks to Lewis Wood’s excellent research and extensive knowledge of Banstead, he reveals that Miss Maud was actually Ellen Maud Ilsley, born in August 1891, so she was a few days short of her 15th birthday when she received the card. Her father, the writer of the postcard, was William Baldwin Ilsley, a stationer and newsagent. His wife, Maud’s mother, was Elizabeth Ann Ilsley (née Compton). William, aged five, is shown in the 1871 census as living in Wilmot Cottages, Banstead. His father, Maud’s grandfather, was a railway porter.

*See also picture #93, which shows the same Sutton Lane/High Street location from a different perspective.